NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday, after the G20 foreign ministers meeting, said that no joint communique was being issued following differences over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“There were issues and very frankly they were concerned with the Ukraine conflict. There were divergences. There were differences, which we could not be reconciled,” The first session of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (FMM)today commenced on multilateralism, food and energy security and development cooperation.
The discussion was on the India’s theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ for its G20 Presidency, which signals the need for unity of purpose and unity of action. In his video address this morning Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted that discussions around the Russia-Ukraine war should not derail the rest of the agenda of the summit.
The G20 FMM at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre. Overall 40 delegations — Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, India as host, Indonesia both as immediate past president and ASEAN chair, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, US (all G20 member countries) are participating in the meeting. Among the 9 guest countries who participated at the level of FMs are Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the UAE.
This was the second ministerial meeting being held under India’s Presidency. The first ministerial meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was held in Bengaluru.
